Bill Hicks is often described as an angry comic, and while I suppose that's an accurate description of the nature of his material, to me it doesn't describe the full breadth of what his comedy was about. An angry comic like Lewis Black (as an obvious example), to me at least, embraces that label of an "angry comic" and specifically searches for material that will be a catalyst for that rant-style performance ("WE CAN'T FIND OSAMA BIN LADEN?!?!?! IT'S BEEN NINE YEARS AND WE CAN'T FIND AN ARAB ATTACHED TO A DIALYSIS MACHINE!!!). I don't get that same feeling from Bill Hicks. To me, it seems as if Hicks starts talking casually about things like smoking, war, Christianity, pornography--almost as if he were just talking to himself--and then naturally gets angry at the realization of how fucked up the world and our society is sometimes. It's a subtle difference, but to me it's always made Hicks much more of a believable comedian.
However, don't let this scare you into thinking Hicks is simply a social commentator: he's incredibly skilled as a comedian and is funny as shit. All I'm pointing out is that it's not just the rants themselves that are funny for their own sakes: the truths he brings out will make you laugh, but will also make you think.
Pull up G12
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